Sex-for-fixing referees jailed in Singapore

Three Lebanese football referees pleaded guilty on Monday to accepting free sex from a gambling-linked global syndicate in return for rigging a match in Singapore, with two jailed and sentencing deferred for the third.

Three Lebanese football referees pleaded guilty on Monday to accepting free sex from a gambling-linked global syndicate in return for rigging a match in Singapore, with two jailed and sentencing deferred for the third.

A district court judge jailed assistant referees Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37, for three months, but deferred sentencing till Tuesday for referee Ali Sabbagh, whom state prosecutors said was the most culpable.

Judge Low Wee Ping said the assistant referees could be freed by later Monday or Tuesday, after remission for good behaviour and due to time already served awaiting sentence.

The three men were arrested for accepting sexual favours in exchange for agreeing to fix an AFC Cup match on April 3 betwe-en Singapore-based club Tampin-es Rovers and India's East Beng-al. They were abruptly pulled out before the match began.

The three were denied bail and have been detained at Singapore's Changi prison since April 4. Eric Ding Si Yang, 31, a Singaporean businessman who allegedly supplied the prostitutes, has also been charged with corruption and granted bail.

Fixing hearing

Berne: Fenerbahce will finally face a Uefa hearing this month into the domestic match-fixing case which rocked Turkish football in 2011. In a further development, European football’s governing body said it would also investigate Besiktas over match-fixing allegations connected to the same year's Turkish Cup final.

UEFA said the hearing involving Fenerbahce and five of its officials would take place on June 22 in Nyon, Lake Geneva. Fenerbah-ce, who won the 2010-11 title, were withdrawn from the following season's Champions League by the Turkish Football Federation.